we built this city on broken glass

He near regretted those words as they all but sliced across his tongue, sending that distraught toddler back inside and no doubt running to the arms of his Mother. It was unlike Frost, in any sense, to speak sharply to the children and yet that irritation that layered his form was hardly to product of his simply attempting to instill in the child a lesson about not opening the door to strangers. Rather, the very appearance of Alexander upon his doorstep so seemed to prompt a recurrence of those same frigid emotions and prominent shields to his demeanor. The snowy haired man throwing up those barricades with a vehemence that hardly spared even a mere child from it's sharpness. No matter how much he sought to pretend otherwise or even to deny those very emotions that lingered somewhere behind that apathetic facade he could hardly shake that obscure feeling that even the sight of the Hunter seemed to conjure. In all his life he had never quite trusted anyone as much as he had trusted in Alexander. Frost, in that moment, believing such trust to have been decidedly misplaced in every sense and wholly wasted in turn upon a being who had no use for him. He had been a fool to believe anything otherwise. The stallion as irritated with himself as he was with the world at large.

Those near deadpan words he was presented with were hardly the ones he had anticipated, his features frowning in response to the notion Alexander seemed to be in possession of some ludicrous idea that he might allow himself to be conscripted back into the service of the very Unit that had been the cause of near every grief in his relatively young life. Was this the game the council played now? Had they given up hunting him only to try and coax him back into their fold at the hands of the man whom, some weeks ago, he might well have gone to the ends of the earth for? It was a useless ploy and a weak one at that. Whatever relationship he had held with Alexander having so undoubtedly taken something of a beating. Enough to see the hunter presented with those walls all over again. That silence between the pair continued for some moments yet. Frost hardly in a rush to speak as his arms folded across his chest. The war horse oblivious to how much his very body language seemed to convey to the age-old man across from him. Frost's words, when they came, holding that same lack of emotion and near cold taint they had the very night the pair had first met.

Did Alexander truly think him fool enough to subject himself to those Hunters once more? To be placed at the back of some horse line with a man no more capable at riding then he was at swinging a sword? To be marched to their deaths? He had not survived this long to die like that. His tone held no small measure of discord even despite the placidity with which it was offered. His violet gaze lifting readily then to meet the Hunter's own. Alexander hardly appearing as put out by those words as he had anticipated and yet if any being existed whom was as capable of shielding those emotions as he was- then it was surely the one across from him. That very silence seemed to find the pair again. Alexander wandering toward that railing of the porch to rest his hands upon it in a manner so relaxed it was almost bizzare and yet Frost remained where he was all the same as the Hunter's head simply shook. The man simply repeating that statement upon why exactly he was here. Frost offering that singular and decidedly equine-like snort.

"-and I told you...."

Whatever words he had been about to offer were cut short, catching within his throat as Alexander turned toward him once more, the Hunter announcing he had assumed incorrectly. Those foreign words that followed were hardly understood, that same pleasant, near appealing tone they had always had hardly failing to attract his attention and yet it was the man's assurance he was hardly done with him that seemed to coax that wariness to his gaze once more. Surely the Macedonian was hardly going to attempt to drag him back to that Cavalry Unit? Frost, perhaps, misreading those words in that moment. The stallion so attempting to find the fight within them. Such a response one he had been near conditioned to have and yet Alexander hardly moved. Frost merely continuing to watch the man far more intently then he attempted to appear, as if expecting Alex to lunge at him at any moment. Even if his words were true. They had spent months training together. Frost even coming to have...enjoyed those evenings. He enjoyed the work, the purpose it gave him, a part of him having even come to near strive to....please Alexander in turn. Foolish as the idea of it was. Impressing the Hunter was no easy task and yet it was one Frost had taken to subtly attempting to achieve. Alexander was not the sort of man to give praise freely, Frost himself no different. Those words, when they did come, far more meaningful.

Still, the equine remained silent all the same. Frost attempting to gauge just where the Hunter was going with those very words. His features frowned softly once more at Alexanders sudden insistence he would rather have him at the front of that warband with him. That choice so apparently his own as his features shifted into a look of confusion now. So few people in this world ever managed to surprise him. People were easy to read, easy to understand, easy to manipulate and yet- Alexander was none of those things. The Hunter managing to surprise him on more than one occasion. This surely one of them. That offer readily seeming to turn within his mind until the very mention of Darius, at last, seemed to prompt some notable reaction from the steed. Another snort forced from him then. Those uttered words finally holding some tendril of emotive disdain.

"Darius? Why would you want him? He isn't nearly as damn good as all you Hunters think he is."

That he had risen so readily to that bait suddenly seemed to strike him then. Frost huffing softly, his gaze turned briefly away from Alexander once more as his teeth near grated across one another in irritation at his own slip of tongue. Why the Hunter would even bring up that bastard of a stallion he hardly knew. Was it meant to goad him? Frost unwilling to admit to the sheer level of disdain the very idea of Alexander taking up with that Barb stirred within him. That dislike the pair of stallions shared for one another abundantly clear in that moment. A soft exhale from Alexander himself readily saw Frost's attention return to him. That wariness seeming to mark his features once more as the Hunter cleared his throat. The use of his name, his real name on the man's lips yet another surprise. Those Werehorses so rarely ever choosing to share those true names outside their own family. That he had, once, offered it to Alexander a sheer testament to that trust they had previously shared. One that prompted that shift of something within the stallion even now.

In all that had surprised him off this interaction so far however, it seemed the largest of those was yet to come. Frost hardly anticipating that gentle mention of a promise he was sure the hunter had forgotten and indeed one he believed the man had offered frivolously all the same. He had learned long ago that promises were merely words that it hardly paid him to believe in. That soft utterance from the Macedonian man that he had been appointed the new High Commander of the cavalry unit was unexpected. Frost unable to withhold those questions that came to his mind now.

"When did you..."

Those very words hardly made it any further once more, Alexander stepping toward him, the man's hand reaching out in the same fashion he would surely have done were Frost within that equine form. Frost's own hand lifted near instinctively with the clear intent of knocking Alexander's away and yet that thumb found his cheek all the same. That very action halting his own hand before it merely dropped to his side once more. That....affection blindsiding the icelandic Were entirely. He could hardly help the manner in which he flinched near imperceptibly as that thumb brushed ever-closer to his blinded right eye, though he hardly moved from that warm touch. Ever since that injury he had never been truly capable of allowing anyone near that eye. It had taken months for even Nadya to be able to run her fingers passed it and yet he held no true belief that Hunter meant him any harm. In all the years he had lived he had never had another outside his Mother, outside Nadya, offer him but any scrap of affection. Certainly not a rider. The stallion almost unsure of how to react to that very touch as his mind so attempted to place those words Alexander offered him. That choice he had never been given so finally presented. That very freedom he had longed for suddenly offered to him. Those very cracks in his icy facade so beginning to appear without his consent. Frost so terribly ill equipped for that moment or that emotion that threatened at him.

"Darius wouldn't suit you."

Those quiet words were so managed at last, a genuine emotion for the first time so laced within them. Frost's own hand lifted then, reaching upward to catch Alexanders and take it in his own- the stallion affording it that single firm shake of agreement.

"Ekki láta mig fara aftur." (Do not lead me astray)

How good the mans Icelandic was he hardly knew and yet Alexander had made that very promise to him once before. The acceptance of that position surely clear enough all the same. Frost releasing Alexander's hand a moment later before leaning back against that railing himself. The stallion so seeking to return them to that usual near business-like demeanor he was far better equipped to handle- even if he knew readily he would not forget that moment so long as he lived. His mind already turned towards what needed to be done in that near brusque manner they were both accustomed too.

"How did you manage to convince the Council to appoint you that position? What's more, there is a great deal of work to be done if you are going to repair this cavalry. I think we should start with Darius' retirement plan...."

The faintest of simpers so managed to tug at his features then. The stallions demeanor having shifted once more into something perhaps....slightly more personable. At least for Alexander. The only being whom had ever kept his promise.

FrosT